Mastering the Temporal Dimension: A Time Machine for Public Affairs Executives
Craig S. Fleisher
Pracademic Educator, Global Researcher and Trusted Capacity Builder Guiding Leaders in Analytics, Applied Intelligence, Corporate Affairs, and Strategy | 17x Book Author | Healthcare Advocate and Caregiver
Temporal factors such as time and timing are so self‐evident in managing public affairs that they are rarely mentioned and even less frequently researched. Time is often seen as an un-influenceable independent variable—a scaffold that underpins a calendar of communication events, legislative and regulatory processes, or issue lifecycles. However, time is a more complex and essential variable to contemplate and utilize than public affairs (and most other) communication executives give it credit for.
My newest paper (https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2055, w/colleague @jasonvoiovich) in the 2020 (20, 1) anniversary edition of the Journal of Public Affairs (Wiley) explores 16 unique ways to think about time. We apply those dimensions to the Amazon HQ2 (second headquarters) selection process to illustrate how public affairs executives could have used them to illuminate aspects of strategy and behavior they might otherwise not have considered. Strategically, understanding interconnected dimensions of time improves clarity in the choice‐making process, allowing public affairs executives to exploit ideal timing as they execute their strategies.
I am passionate about helping people and companies change the world in a meaningful way.
5 年Eric McNulty, you might be interested in this with your work.
I am passionate about helping people and companies change the world in a meaningful way.
5 年That's an interesting topic, Craig S. Fleisher. PR is dynamic, and HQ2 is a great case study of those dynamics, as well as FDI as a component of PR.
Pracademic Educator, Global Researcher and Trusted Capacity Builder Guiding Leaders in Analytics, Applied Intelligence, Corporate Affairs, and Strategy | 17x Book Author | Healthcare Advocate and Caregiver
5 年And for those of you who may wonder why Jason and I developed this framework, the reality is we both talked about a principle that says "if you can't measure something, you can't manage it." We've both heard executives talk about "not having enough time," or "we're too late" as reasons (excuses?) not to take an action, and thought that was insufficient or unsatisfactory as a managerial response. Burying our heads in the sand like an ostrich and/or ignoring a phenomena does not make it any less important!! One simple application we thought about in our own work was looking at how we actually used our time over a fixed period. For example, we could steadfastly track over the course of a work week what we did (via way of hour by hour entries in our MS Outlook calendars, or an equivalent temporal diary you use to schedule your work days). Next, we go back and look at it in the following week. We assessed how important each hour was to our larger missions, how much difference it made, and how much "discretionary" time we used (or wasted, in some cases) versus how much was available. Doing this exercise often provided eye-opening insights about how to use our time more beneficially and productively.? And that us only one dimension among the 15 others we looked at in this article!